'Gambit' Remake Gets Funding And Director

EXCLUSIVE: Things are finally looking up for Gambit, the Joel and Ethan Coen-scripted remake of the 1966 British caper comedy which originally starred Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine. Upstart company Crime Scene Pictures has signed on to finance the picture, and The Last Station director Michael Hoffman has come aboard to direct. FilmNation’s Glen Basner will sell foreign territories and the picture is on track to shoot next May in London. Producer Mike Lobell has been trying to get the project made for years, and most recently had Doug Liman flirting with the job. Caine played a cat burglar who tries to rob a billionaire of his priceless statue and enlists the help of a waitress who is a dead ringer for the victim’s late wife. While the burglar has carefully planned the job in his head, the execution is complicated by his relationship with his pretty accomplice.

The filmmakers will go out to cast shortly. Crime Scene Pictures was started by Adam Ripp and Rob Paris. Backed by equity from Southeast Asia, they hope to fund 4-6 pictures over three years with budgets ranging from $2 million to $20 million. Hoffman is repped by UTA.